Wild Finish Results in Overtime Sweep in Hartford

Marody Steal for Open Net Winner

November 1, 2025

Hartford, CT – This one was about as crazy as one could imagine. A fight inside one team’s bench and a winning overtime goal into an empty net vaulted the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to their second consecutive 4-3 overtime victory at the Hartford Wolf Pack to complete a wacky Halloween weekend sweep of the two-game series.

Cooper Marody (1st) stole the show…or, at least, the puck. His game-winning goal was pure hustle. Hartford used goaltender Dylan Garand on a long drop backwards in order to maintain possession. But Marody didn’t give up on the play and his aggression paid off. He forced Garand to juggle and mishandle behind the net allowing Marody the opportunity to come up with the unlikeliest of game-winners when he stole it away clean to subsequently tuck it into the vacated cage.

Carl Grundstrom (3rd) had tied the game on the power play for the second evening in a row. And Christian Kyrou scored his first goal with his new team and added an assist on Garrett Wilson’s (2nd) goal later on.

But all of that practically seemed secondary to the wild exchange that ensued shortly thereafter which had jaws dropping all around PeoplesBank Arena. With just 1:50 remaining in the third, Garrett Wilson and Gabe Perrault had a skirmish behind the play that escalated into a fight inside the Hartford bench when Dylan Rooebroeck reached out from the bench to grab Wilson in a headlock and drag him off the ice. While the punches flew inside the bench, Ty Murchison mixed it up with Jackson Dorrington on the ice as well. All four received game misconducts.

Before the Halloween weekend contest turned into something out of the Twilight Zone, Phantoms goaltender Yaniv Perets was impressive in his Lehigh Valley debut and his second career win in the league. He backstopped a 23-save gem that saw several breakaway denials and other close-range beauties.

Christian Kyrou opened the scoring at 13:19 into the game while his teammates were buzzing and clicking in the Hartford zone. The newly acquired defenseman saw the opportunity to sneak into the slot to blast home Grundstrom’s centering feed for a 1-0 lead. Zayde Wisdom also assisted on the play.

Hartford (3-4-2) equalized in the second period on a power-play goal from the high slot by Trey Fix-Wolansky (4th).

Wilson put the Phantoms back ahead when Kyrou’s shot was blocked down at the net-front by Derrick Pouliot. Wilson got to the puck first to knock it past Garand at 13:28 for a 2-1 lead.

The Wolf Pack tied it with just 2.4 seconds left in the period when they rushed in to snag a dump in and found an open Dylan Roobroeck (2nd) out in front to take momentum into the room at the second intermission.

Rooebroeck’s pass from the left wing corner bounded off a Phantoms’ leg and onto the stick of Gabe Perrault (5th) in the slot who extended his goal streak to four consecutive games at 4:08 into the final period for Hartford’s first lead of the game at 3-2.

Cue Grundstrom…again. Lane Pederson’s faceoff win gave Grundstrom the opportunity to strike with the tying tally again, this time from the slot on a feed from behind the goal by Anthony Richard. The Phantoms had evened the count at 3-3 with 7:14 left.

Both teams had power-play chances down the stretch. Both teams’ penalty kills hung on.

It appeared that Lehigh Valley had won the game in overtime when Alex Bump did a little curl and drag to snipe past Garand from the slot but the goal was immediately waived off due to goaltenders’ interference.

So we played on. Setting up Marody’s thievery and second career overtime goal with the Phantoms and certainly one of the most unusual of his career.

In the process, Lehigh Valley at 6-3-1 also achieved its best 10-game record since the 2017-18 season when the Phantoms started 7-2-1.

The Phantoms are 2-1-1 on their current five-game road trip with one more to go on Wednesday night at the Bridgeport Islanders. Lehigh Valley is 4-2-1 overall on the road.

The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Saturday, November 8 against the Toronto Marlies on Phantoms Ballcap Night presented by Service Electric Network and also featuring a Postgame Skate with the Phantoms players presented by NJM Insurance.

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